About Breviceps adspersus Peters, 1882
Breviceps adspersus, commonly known as the common rain frog, has a brownish-green coloration, a round body, and stumpy legs. This species cannot jump or swim. It has sharply rigid metatarsal tubercles, which it uses to dig deep burrows. The species displays significant sexual dimorphism: males reach 30–47 mm in length, while females are typically larger, measuring 40–60 mm. Two recognized subspecies exist: Breviceps adspersus adspersus and Breviceps adspersus pentheri. B. a. adspersus occurs mostly in southeast Africa, while B. a. pentheri is found in southern Africa. It is not definitively confirmed that the two are separate subspecies, but they remain classified as such due to differences in coloration and markings. The common rain frog inhabits temperate forests and open grasslands of southeast Africa. It spends the dry winter months inside burrows, and emerges after rain to feed and mate, usually at night. Its diet consists of termites, ants, and other invertebrates. Individuals of this species also climb on one another and shed and eat their skin. The species has a stable population, and is described as "locally common". Because males are too small to grip females during mating the way most other frog species do, the male secretes a glue-like substance to hold the mating pair together. The attached pair burrows backwards into the soil until they reach a chamber the female dug 30 cm below the surface. The female lays her eggs in this chamber, and the eggs hatch directly into froglets rather than the tadpole stage seen in many other frogs.
